i knowi have met many in position of social authority that crave nothing more in fantasy thus are drawn via pornographystrangely maybe , in every society our civil servants show a higher preference towards bdsm expression than any other social grouping

In the 13th century, a group of Roman Catholics, known as the Flagellants, took this practice to its extreme ends. The Flagellants were later condemned by the Roman Catholic Church as a cult in the 14th century because the established church had no other control over the practice other than excommunication. Self-flagellation remains common in the Philippines and Latin America.Some members of strict monastic orders, and some members of the lay organization Opus Dei, practice mild self-flagellation using an instrument called a "discipline", a cattail whip usually made of knotted cords, which is flung over the shoulders repeatedly during private prayer. Pope John Paul II took the discipline regularly. St. Therese of Lisieux, a Carmelite nun of late 19th-century France who has now been declared a Doctor of the Church, is an influential example of a Catholic Saint who questioned prevailing attitudes toward physical penance. Her view was that loving acceptance of the many sufferings of daily life was pleasing to God, and fostered loving relationships with other people, more than taking upon oneself extraneous sufferings through instruments of penance. However as a Carmelite nun, she practiced voluntary corporal mortification.

Because practices such as starvation, sleep denial and flagellation are known to induce altered states, flagellation may be used by religious ecstatics and mystics as part of ritualistic practices or ceremonies to achieve unusual states of mind

I have seen the practice of flagellation demonstrated in a documentary I watched of a large group of I believe Muslim men and boys, beating and cutting themselves and their faces.

The wounds seemed superficial but the reasoning was lost to me.

Other than the obvious that is...

Quoting: Seer777

the opinion i have formed is they all sign a piece of paper signing them to loyalty of a state institution, be it a monarch or what replaced a monarch and their oath demands secrecythus they are separated from society by their oath thus whom can they be themselves withonly others under oath

bit like monastic life that introduced physical and emotional pain into daily life because their underlying unnatural self enforced lifestyle prompted it to be so

funny topic sufferingpain is a natural signal focusing on what is required to be altered

suffering is an unknown word to every societies memory (golden age)thus suffering is not embedded in our expression of living because we all remember it never existedthus all explanations of suffering are explanations of that which never used to exist within us

with that /z\ in mind i would consider the removal of suffering from earth a mandatory goal of every faith, belief and government

funny topic sufferingpain is a natural signal focusing on what is required to be altered

suffering is an unknown word to every societies memory (golden age)thus suffering is not embedded in our expression of living because we all remember it never existedthus all explanations of suffering are explanations of that which never used to exist within us

with that /z\ in mind i would consider the removal of suffering from earth a mandatory goal of every faith, belief and government

funny topic sufferingpain is a natural signal focusing on what is required to be altered

suffering is an unknown word to every societies memory (golden age)thus suffering is not embedded in our expression of living because we all remember it never existedthus all explanations of suffering are explanations of that which never used to exist within us

with that /z\ in mind i would consider the removal of suffering from earth a mandatory goal of every faith, belief and government

funny topic sufferingpain is a natural signal focusing on what is required to be altered

suffering is an unknown word to every societies memory (golden age)thus suffering is not embedded in our expression of living because we all remember it never existedthus all explanations of suffering are explanations of that which never used to exist within us

with that /z\ in mind i would consider the removal of suffering from earth a mandatory goal of every faith, belief and government